


The Color of the Sky

by praypals



Series: Soulmate AUs [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/praypals/pseuds/praypals
Summary: In a world where people can't see the shades of their soulmate's eye color until they touch them, Jeremy is one of the unlucky few that can't see blue.
Relationships: Jeremy Dooley/Ryan Haywood
Series: Soulmate AUs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662844
Comments: 7
Kudos: 110





	The Color of the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second part of a series of Soulmate AUs I'm planning on writing! If you have any ships or AUs that you'd like to see, just let me know and I'll see what I can do :)

Almost 80% of the world’s population has brown eyes. People are born unable to see shades of their soulmate’s eye color, which means that almost 80% of the world’s population cannot see any shades of brown. Until they touch their soulmate, that is. Once someone makes physical contact with their soulmate, the shades of the eye color become visible. People who’s soulmates have an eye color besides brown are much more uncommon and are often considered to be unlucky, especially when the eye color is blue or green.

Jeremy was one of those unlucky people who’s soulmate’s eyes were blue. He couldn’t see the color of a bluebird or a pair of simple blue jeans. He couldn’t see the color of the ocean or the color of the sky. He tried to watch the sunset at the beach once, but all he could see was an array of oranges and pinks and yellows that just faded into gray, all stretching out above an ocean of more gray. He longed to see blue more than anything else.

Despite the fact that he was unable to see it, Jeremy loved blue. He would often buy blue clothes and even dyed his hair blue for a while. He was an artist and he constantly painted with blue, knowing that one day he might meet his soulmate and be able to see what his artwork actually looked like with all the shades it was currently missing.

His current painting was rather different than his usual almost grunge-like artwork. It was a watercolor of a single flower, floating alone in water. The flower was a pansy that was purple and orange, which were two of Jeremy’s favorite colors to use. In fact, most of his artwork featured either blue or a mix of purple, orange, and yellow. It was somewhat of a theme within his art pieces.

Suddenly noticing he had been working for several hours in a row without paying attention to the time, Jeremy realized he should take a break. He stood up and stretched, then cleaned up the area around him just enough so that it wouldn’t bother him later. He picked up his phone to send a quick message to Geoff letting him know he’ll be by soon, then quickly changed into cleaner clothes and headed out the door.

Geoff was the owner of an art gallery in town, and occasionally Jeremy would convince him to put some of his pieces up. Currently, Jeremy had two pieces in the gallery, but they had been there for a while and he was starting to worry that Geoff was going to take them down soon due to no one showing any interest in buying them.

When Jeremy arrived at the gallery, he immediately spotted Geoff and headed in his direction. Geoff noticed him and gave a wave accompanied by a friendly smile. Jeremy smiled back as he approached the latter, a nervous feeling in his gut.

“How’s my art doing?” he asked with an anxious laugh.

“Could be better,” Geoff replied bluntly, “but I’ll keep it up for a while longer just in case someone new pops in. You owe me, though.”

“I know. Thank you so much. I really need the money right now,” Jeremy muttered.

Geoff sighed and patted him on the shoulder, then suddenly perked up.

“Hey, someone is looking at one of your pieces! Why don’t you go and talk to them?”

Jeremy turned to look toward where Geoff’s gaze was and saw a tall attractive man with sandy hair. The man was standing in a relaxed pose with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, and his head was tilted curiously as he seemingly studied Jeremy’s painting. Jeremy frowned and turned to look back at Geoff.

“Are you sure I should talk to him? Wouldn’t it make him feel awkward if the artist of the painting he’s judging right now suddenly popped up out of nowhere?” he said unsurely.

“Then just don’t tell him you’re the artist, dumbass. Also, you don’t know that he’s ‘judging’ it, so just calm down and stop being such a baby. Go talk to him,” Geoff responded in an annoyed voice, then gave Jeremy a little shove toward the man by the painting.

Jeremy sighed and took a moment to glance down at his clothes, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. He was dressed rather nicely, but that didn’t stop him from stressing over every little wrinkle that could have any chance of making him seem unprofessional. After finally deciding he looked decent enough for social interaction with a stranger, he slowly approached the other man.

Not knowing what to say at first, Jeremy just stood next to the man and pretended to study his own art. The man didn’t immediately acknowledge his presence, continuing to look at the painting with an intrigued expression on his face.

“It’s interesting,” the man said suddenly, “the shades of blue that the artist used for the water.”

“Oh? How so?” Jeremy asked, raising his eyebrows.

“It’s so much more vivid than one would normally expect,” the man replied.

Jeremy frowned as he looked at the painting. Was the blue too vivid? He wished he knew. The painting was a silhouette of a person at the edge of a beach. With one hand they were trying to reach out and touch the blue ocean, but connected to the other hand was a red string that was seemingly pulling them just out of reach of the water. He had painted it on a day where he was particularly longing to see the color blue, and he had been rather proud of it. Geoff had enjoyed it and put it up in the gallery, but now Jeremy was wondering if he had been too ambitious with all the blue that he couldn’t see.

“You think it’s too much?” Jeremy said, trying to sound vague.

“Absolutely not. I love it, actually. It’s unexpected and interesting. I especially like how it looks next to the much grayer sky and how it contrasts with the red of the string. What do you think?”

The man finally turned to look at Jeremy with a curious expression on his face. Jeremy chuckled nervously. He suddenly felt a tugging feeling in his chest as he noticed the man had gray eyes, which likely meant they were actually blue.

“I, uh, couldn’t tell you,” Jeremy replied after a moment’s hesitation.

“Oh? Why’s that?” the man asked in response.

“Well, I can’t see it. The blue, that is,” Jeremy admitted.

The man gave a curious hum then turned back to look at the painting.

“That’s a shame. This art really is beautiful.”

He glanced at the small placard and for the first time ever Jeremy felt strangely embarrassed about how he used the name Rimmy Tim as his alias for his art. The man let out a small laugh as he read the name, then looked back at Jeremy again.

“Do you think ‘Rimmy’ is his actual name?” he joked.

“Probably not,” Jeremy said with a slight smile. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“I’m Ryan,” the man replied.

“Well then, Ryan, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jeremy.”

Jeremy wondered if he should hold his hand out to shake Ryan’s, but Ryan’s hands were still shoved into his pockets so he decided not to, still feeling somewhat awkward. Awkwardness was a strange feeling for Jeremy, who was usually rather confident and outgoing. He wondered briefly if it was because Ryan’s eyes were blue, then decided it was probably just because of how attractive the man was.

“Do you come here often?” Ryan said, sounding relaxed.

“I do. I’m actually an artist. Geoff has put a few of my pieces up before,” Jeremy answered truthfully, then added, “Geoff is the owner, of course.”

“I know who Geoff is, he’s an old friend of mine. I saw you talking to him before you came over here,” Ryan replied with a smile.

“Really? He actually told me I should talk to you,” Jeremy said, suddenly feeling awkward again.

Ryan let out a laugh.

“Of course he did, he’s always trying to find people for me to meet. He thinks I need more friends.”

“Well maybe you do, if you’re just hanging out at an art exhibit alone,” Jeremy teased, relaxing just slightly.

“Hey now, I have plenty of friends,” Ryan defended. “Most of them just don’t appreciate art as much as I do, and the ones that do are busy today.”

Jeremy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow playfully.

“Sounds like an awfully convenient excuse. If they’re busy today, then why not go tomorrow?”

“Geoff invited me to come today. And I’m definitely not complaining, considering I wouldn’t have met you if I had gone tomorrow instead,” Ryan answered smoothly.

Jeremy smirked, starting to feel confident.

“Sounds like you came to look at more than just art,” he said with a wink.

Ryan turned his whole body to face Jeremy and crossed his arms.

“Sounds like you’re starting to assume things,” he replied.

“I think,” Jeremy said, biting his lip teasingly, “it’s pretty obvious you think I’m cute. And I bet your ‘friends’ would agree if they were here.”

“Don’t test me, Jeremy,” Ryan warned, taking a step closer.

“Oh yeah? What if I want to?”

Despite the confident tone in his voice, as Jeremy spoke he instinctively tried to take a step back but instead just backed into the wall. He laughed in embarrassment and Ryan smirked, then took another step so that their bodies were almost touching. Jeremy’s breath caught and his eyelids fluttered shut as Ryan chuckled and leaned closer.

“Then I’ll have to teach you a lesson,” Ryan whispered, lips dangerously close to brushing against Jeremy’s ear.

Jeremy felt his face heat up and he swallowed nervously. Ryan pulled away and looked at him for a moment, then stepped back with a smug expression on his face. He shoved his hands back into his pockets as his expression turned into a teasing smile.

“You are awfully cute,” he said bluntly.

“D-Don’t you have a soulmate or something?” Jeremy stammered back, mentally cursing at himself for suddenly being so awkward again.

“So what? For all I know, my soulmate could be you.” Ryan replied coolly, then winked and said, “Let’s talk again sometime, okay?”

Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked out, leaving Jeremy still leaning against the wall in shock. The moment Ryan went through the door, Geoff was by Jeremy’s side in an instant.

“What the fuck just happened between you two?” he demanded. “What was with all that sexual tension?”

Jeremy wished he had an answer, but he couldn’t find any words to say. Instead, he slowly sunk to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest. When he finally spoke, all he could manage to say was,

“Shit, Geoff, that guy is something else.”

Geoff stared down at him in disbelief.

“You spend your whole life wanting to find your soulmate so you can see blue, then suddenly some random guy I made you talk to is literally making your knees weak? Jeremy, you know I love and respect you and most of your decisions, but this is pathetic. Should I have not intervened?”

“No, no,” Jeremy replied quickly, “I’m definitely glad you made me talk to him. I mean, he has blue eyes, right? What if he’s my soulmate? Also, don’t fucking make it sound like I want to meet my soulmate just to see blue.”

“Uh, correct me if I’m mistaken, but it definitely looked like he made physical contact with you and I believe you still can’t see any blue,” Geoff said with a mildly concerned voice.

“He didn’t touch me. He got really fucking close, and I definitely wouldn’t have minded if he had, but he didn’t actually touch me,” Jeremy explained quickly.

“Are you sure about that?” Geoff responded, sounding doubtful.

“Trust me,” Jeremy said with a small shiver, “I would’ve known if he had touched me.”

Geoff made a gagging noise, then his face became rather serious.

“I hate to tell you this, man, but you probably won’t see him again. He doesn’t live around here, he was just in town to visit for a few days. His plane back home leaves tomorrow.”

Jeremy’s face fell instantly.

“He… Really? He’s leaving that soon?” he asked quietly.

Geoff nodded in confirmation. Jeremy groaned and threw his head back in frustration, then winced as it hit the wall behind him. Geoff sighed and patted his shoulder pityingly, then held out a hand to help him back to his feet. Jeremy took his hand and stood, then looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Please, Geoff, help me out here. I need to know if he’s my soulmate or not,” he begged.

“Well,” Geoff said slowly, “I have an idea. It’s a stupid idea, but it’s foolish enough that it just might work.”

“Let’s do it,” Jeremy decided with resolve.

  


  


The next day, Jeremy and Geoff wandered the airport as Geoff tried to contact Ryan to find out where he was. Before Ryan had responded to any of Geoff’s texts, however, Jeremy spotted him standing in line waiting to check his luggage and quickly ran up to him. Ryan noticed him as he approached and stepped back in surprise, accidentally bumping into the person behind him, who gave him an annoyed look.

“Jeremy? What are you doing here?” he asked in confusion.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re leaving?” Jeremy demanded, then his eyes softened and he added, “I’m sorry if it’s weird that I showed up like this, but… I just want to know. You know, if we’re soulmates or not.”

Ryan hesitated, then breathed a deep sigh.

“Honestly, I don’t want to. If we aren’t soulmates I’m just gonna be really disappointed, and if we are then I’ll feel guilty for leaving,” he admitted.

“But you’re the one who suggested it and said we should talk again sometime,” Jeremy said with a frown.

“I do want to keep talking to you,” Ryan explained, “because I want to get to know you better. I really felt a connection between us, and clearly you did too, but I also want to know if we still have that kind of connection when we’re apart. And if we don’t know if we’re soulmates or not, it’ll feel more natural because we won’t feel like we need to force it, you know?”

After a moment, Jeremy nodded.

“Could I at least have your number, then?” he asked.

“Of course,” Ryan replied with a smile.

He pulled out his phone, unlocked it, pulled up his contacts, then held it out for Jeremy. Jeremy took it, careful to not touch Ryan’s hand, and typed in his number to save it as a new contact. Ryan took the phone back, then quickly skimmed through all the unread messages from Geoff.

“I figured he was in on this,” he remarked. “Anyway, I really do have to go now, I can’t miss this flight. I’ll message you once I land, okay?”

Jeremy nodded, then backed away hesitantly as Ryan moved forward in line. Geoff appeared by his side and continued to lead him away from Ryan so that he wouldn’t hold up the line anymore.

“You look upset. Did it not go well?”

“Could’ve gone better,” Jeremy admitted, “because I still don’t know if he’s my soulmate or not. We’re still gonna talk, though, and see if we still feel the same kind of connection while we’re apart.”

“That’s cute. How are you ever going to know if he’s actually your soulmate, though?” Geoff questioned.

Jeremy breathed a deep sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

“Either I’ll be waiting until he comes back, or I’ll find out it’s someone else, I suppose.”

  


  


It had been over a year since that had happened, now. Jeremy and Ryan had spent the last year texting almost nonstop and often staying up playing video games all night, and they would also often video chat before sleeping or while Jeremy was working on some of his art. The more they talked, the more Jeremy found himself praying that Ryan actually was his soulmate.

Smiling to himself as he was texting Ryan, Jeremy distractedly ran into the glass door of Geoff’s gallery. He grunted as a man opened the door for him, clearly trying not to laugh. He looked up as he entered and his face flushed as he noticed three more people, all laughing at him.

“Amazing, it only took you one second to embarrass yourself in front of new people,” Geoff chuckled, shaking his head.

“Who are you all?” Jeremy asked in confusion, looking between the four people. “I thought the gallery didn’t open for another half hour.”

“You didn’t tell him about us, Geoff?” one of the people said, pretending to be hurt.

Geoff rolled his eyes.

“I’ve mentioned you all before, but I have better things to do than talk about you assholes all day.”

“Oh! Are these all your old friends? They actually exist?” Jeremy teased.

Geoff hit him on the back of the head.

“Of course they exist, dumbass. And yes, this is them,” he snapped, then, pointing at each one respectively, said, “the dumb British one is Gavin, the guy with the beard is Jack, the female is Lindsay, and the asshole is Michael.”

Michael responded by flipping Geoff off, while Jack nodded, Gavin made a noise that sounded strangely like an offended bird, and Lindsay said,

“Is that all you think of me as? Rude.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you guys,” Jeremy said, grinning. “I actually have heard a lot about you. What are you all visiting for?”

“We usually get together around this time of year. I’m surprised Geoff didn’t say anything about it,” Jack replied.

Jeremy turned to Geoff with his eyebrows raised, then his face fell just slightly as he noticed something behind him.

“I didn’t have a reason to say anything last year because Jeremy and I weren’t very close yet, and I do have a reason that I said nothing this year,” Geoff explained, then paused as he noticed Jeremy’s expression and said, “what’s wrong?”

“When did you take my painting down? I mean, it was about time and I'm surprised that you kept it up as long as you did, but…” Jeremy trailed off.

“I didn’t take it down, someone bought it,” Geoff said quickly. “It happened just yesterday, I guess I forgot to message you about it.”

“Oh!” Jeremy exclaimed, feeling oddly disappointed but hiding it well.

Then, another voice spoke up behind Jeremy, startling him.

“Did you just say that was _your_ painting?”

Jeremy jumped in surprise and spun around quickly to see a man standing close behind him.

“Ryan!” he gasped, then smiled sheepishly and added, “Yeah, it was my painting. I didn’t want to tell you when you were looking at it because I thought it would be awkward.”

“I’m the one that bought it, dumbass,” Ryan replied, grinning.

“Oh, shit, really?” Jeremy said as his face flushed.

Ryan nodded in confirmation, and Jeremy bit his lip nervously and took an unsure step closer. Taking the hint, Ryan grabbed Jeremy’s hand and pulled him into a tight hug. Jeremy immediately melted into the hug, closing his eyes and resting his head against Ryan’s chest. When they finally pulled away, Jeremy’s eyes were automatically drawn toward Ryan’s in apprehensive curiosity.

He gasped the moment he saw it. Ryan’s eyes were a startling blue, like nothing Jeremy had ever seen before. Ryan smiled softly, then leaned down to press a gentle kiss to Jeremy’s lips. Jeremy kissed him back happily, wrapping him arms around the neck of the taller man.

“Uh, I hate to interrupt,” Michael said with a cough, “but I would rather not keep watching you kiss.”

“Aw, Michael, you ruined the moment,” Lindsay argued.

“Yeah, you could’ve just walked away,” Jack added, “although I do agree that it’s kinda weird seeing Ryan act like this with someone. I don’t think I’ll be able to ever view him as scary again after seeing him be so soft and wholesome.”

“I have a knife in my pocket right now,” Ryan replied, voice suddenly low and dangerous.

“Nope, still terrifying,” Lindsay said, shaking her head.

“Hot,” Jeremy spoke up, grinning, eyes still locked on Ryan's.

Geoff and Michael both made gagging noises.

“Oh, wait, is that why Geoff didn’t tell Jeremy about us visiting? So Ryan could surprise him? That’s adorable!” Gavin gasped.

“Yeah, hate to tell you this, buddy, but I think we all figured that out already,” Michael said and gave Gavin a pat on the shoulder.

Ryan smiled and looked down at Jeremy, then grabbed his hand and guided him out the door of the gallery. Jeremy tore his gaze away from Ryan’s eyes and let out a gasp as he took in all the new color in his surroundings.

“I see dirt,” Ryan joked, pretending to be a bit calmer than he actually was as he watched a small brown dog pass by.

Jeremy hardly noticed as he stared in awe at the world around him. He squeezed Ryan’s hand tightly as his eyes threatened to well up with tears. He was finally able to see blue. He would finally be able to see the color of blue jeans or a bluebird, and he would finally be able to see the blue of the ocean at the beach. He could finally see the color of the sky, and it was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the longer wait than I had intended, after watching the video where they were playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps I bought the first game and have been spending way too much time playing it.


End file.
